You know what the best day of the week is? Saturday. I mean, Sunday is cool too, but knowing that Monday looms just around the corner sort of puts a damper on things. But this Saturday – this Saturday is going to be extra special, because it's the first ever National Readathon Day!

According to publisher Penguin Random House, "40 percent of American adults are either at or below basic reading proficiency, and 14 percent are fully illiterate. But the trouble doesn’t stop there. Each year, millions of Americans – especially our youth – are losing touch with the power and importance of reading books. As Malcolm X said, 'People don’t realize how a whole life can be changed by one book.'"

To address this issue, Penguin Random House teamed up other bookish organizations like GoodReads,Mashableand the National Book Foundation to create an event to raise awareness and funds to help share the power of literacy. And what better way to do that than dedicate an entire day to reading? As an added bonus, it gives you an excuse to lay in bed and read all day!

Visit Penguin Random House's resources section and download supporting materials. If you're one of the first 200 venues to sign up, the publisher will ship a Readathon Day poster to you.

Promote National Readathon Day in your store or library by displaying event signage and promoting it in your newsletter and social media efforts leading up to the day.

Join bookworms across the country for the inagural National Readathon Day Saturday, January 24th from 12-4 p.m. and make #timetoread!

Now, unfortunately I won't be able to partake in National Readathon Day because I'll be at an all-day orientation for new graduate students pursuing their masters in Library and Information Science. Considering that this is really the first step of me becoming a librarian who will dedicate her entire life to promoting literacy, I think the book gods will excuse my absence. Plus, I spent my entire day off last week finishing the last couple hundred pages in A Storm Of Swords ... so that should count for something!

Still not sold on an excuse to spend your weekend working through that book you just haven't had a chance to get to yet? Take a look at what some Penguin Random House authors had to say about literacy and National Readathon Day. Here's to making #timetoread!

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Author

Tessa Fox is a 26-year-old Early Literacy Librarian at the Grayslake Area Public Library in Grayslake, Illinois. After working in the journalism and publishing fields, Tessa decided to dedicate her life to books and public librarianship, and went back to school to get her Master's in Library and Information Science from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, where she graduated in December 2016. Tessa has been working in public libraries for the past four years.